Apples and Vino, one more study

I have to be honest with you......
Doing studies of fruit are not terribly thrilling for me.....
But like exercise to maintain tone in your body, exercise in the artistic arena is equally important.
I enjoy the fact that in doing them I improve my awareness and skills.....but....frankly, I have to slap myself awake sometimes.
I tend to do a lot of studies as examples for my students to follow......
This particular one is done in acrylic. I used the palette knife on the closest apple to provide some texture.
Other areas were done with various sizes of firm, flat,stiff, brushes.
The palette here was made up mostly of earth tones: Sienna, Umber, white, Cadmium red, and also a little ultra marine blue.
Part of my process is glazing, but also I do a great deal of dry brush for blending. Glazing with acrylic paint is done by using gels.
I tell my students that initially you really need to obliterate the white of the canvas instead of working from one side to the other. When you rid your canvas of the white, not only do you rid yourself of an intimidating, screaming white surface, but you also bring the entire composition into the beginning of a cohesive unity.

One thing to remember in painting also is that, like sculpture, painting is a process...often repetitive....and your completed project may take a little longer than you expected.
Attention has to be given especially to light quality as well as value, before worrying about color.
Visual balance is also extremely important.
One has to be careful not to place subject matter exactly in the center, instead it needs to be offset somewhat to create a flow of eye movement. If subject matter is too centralized, the picture will become static and one dimensional. When that happens, the picture can then become uninteresting.

Finally, it's important to leave room for change in the composition. Here you see I decided to add a wine bottle as well as the patterned curtains in the background.You don't have to be a slave to your original idea. If you find that what you are doing is boring you to death, bring in some visually pleasing elements to your negative space. Doing this could mean bringing fresh life into something that would otherwise remain dull and uninteresting.